


Jingle Hell (2011)

by JennyB



Series: Advent 2011 [9]
Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Advent Challenge 2011, Christmas Miracles, First Kiss, M/M, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-09
Updated: 2011-12-09
Packaged: 2018-01-05 20:19:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennyB/pseuds/JennyB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Was it drunken ravings, Christmas magic, or something more that Sanzo experienced that Christmas Eve?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jingle Hell (2011)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Advent Challenge 2011. Prompt: Awkward flirting under the mistletoe.
> 
> Podfic (by the lovely Kansouame ♥♥) here: [Take a Listen!](http://www.mediafire.com/?un6sz1jdty86w5s)

Sanzo's eyes slowly moved around the room as he took another pull from the bottle in his hand. When they'd stopped at the inn that night, he hadn't expected that he'd be arriving the night of their Christmas Eve party, nor that the innkeepers would insist that they come as their guests. Yet there he sat, amid the soft music, pretty decorations, and decadent food, and hating the whole thing. He was currently camped out on a barstool in the quiet bar and silently observing the other guests as they made merry. Goku was currently gorging himself on eggnog and mince pies while Gojyo was chatting up every unescorted woman in the house. He didn't see Hakkai with the others, but when he felt a presence next to him, he knew right away that it was the healer. He lit up a cigarette, and as he exhaled a thin stream of smoke he said, "I thought you of all people would be into this."

Hakkai smiled. "I can see how you might think that. But to be honest, it's been years since, well..." He gave a hesitant laugh as he glanced briefly at Sanzo, and then he sighed heavily. "That is a rather complicated thing to explain."

Sanzo glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and he frowned when the brunet failed to continue. Hakkai didn't _look_ particularly melancholy, but then it was always so difficult to tell with him. "Tch."

"I am surprised to find you down here, though," Hakkai said after a moment. "Pleasantly so. I know you're not really one for social functions, so I'd expected to find you alone in your room."

Sanzo's frown deepened. Leave it to Hakkai to notice he was acting in a way contrary to the norm. "Free booze," he said simply as he turned his attention back to the Great Room and the revellers.

"Ah. I suppose that makes sense," Hakkai said.

This time Sanzo _did_ detect the note of disappointment in the other's voice. He snorted impatiently before finishing off both his cigarette and his drink. He'd given up long ago trying to interpret Hakkai's moods; the man was a riddle incarnate, and it gave him a headache to even think about it. He started on another beer, noting that Hakkai was nursing a glass of wine. That struck him as unusual, but he didn't give it more than a passing thought. He was just starting to lose himself in the ethanol fog that had crept over his brain when Hakkai's voice pulled him back a bit.

"Oh, I've not seen that in some time! Sanzo, look."

"At what?"

Hakkai chuckled as he pointed toward the archway between the bar and the Great Room. "Someone's hung a sprig of mistletoe."

The blond snorted. "So?"

Hakkai's expression morphed into a soft smile. "Ah, right. You probably wouldn't be familiar with the custom." He turned his gaze to his wineglass, and the faintest tinge of colour highlighted his cheeks. "People hang sprigs of mistletoe at Christmastime. Traditionally, if two people are caught together under the mistletoe, they must kiss. I was--"

The derisive laugh effectively cut Hakkai off. "Sounds like something that perverted kappa would have invented." Sanzo snorted as he polished off his beer. "What a stupid tradition."

"Yes, I suppose that it is," Hakkai said quietly as took a deep swallow of his wine and set the unfinished glass behind him on the bar. He slid off his stool and gave his friend a smile that was as automatic as it was plastic. "I...should go check on Goku. Have a good evening, Sanzo." He hesitated for a moment, and then added, "Merry Christmas."

Sanzo watched him return to the Great Room, and he shook his head as he contemplated having another beer. "Crazy-assed bastard," he muttered under his breath.

"Better crazy than cold if it makes you that blind."

Sanzo swivelled around on his stool and glared at the bartender, his mouth curving downward. "I don't recall asking for your opinion. Mind your own business."

The bartender gave a half-hearted shrug as he popped the cap from a beer bottle and set it in front of Sanzo. "It's my bar. The opinions, like the liquor, flow free tonight. No one is forcing you to stay and partake of either." He met Sanzo's eyes and held his gaze, as if daring the priest to challenge him.

"Tch." He picked up the bottle and drank about half of it as he studied the man. "Do what you want, but if you're going to make yourself a pain in my ass, I'll need another one of these."

"Sure." The bartender set another bottle in front of Sanzo. "You're kind of strange for a priest," he said, and then he shifted his gaze towards the Great Room. "But your friend there--" He nodded towards Hakkai, who was currently helping a little girl tie the tiny ribbons for her dolly's apron. "--I'd rather have you tell me about him."

Sanzo followed the bartender's stare, and he arched a brow. "Hakkai? There's nothing to tell."

The bartender laughed. "Right. Crazy people always have the most mundane stories, don't they?"

Sanzo snorted into his bottle. "You don't need me to tell you. I'm sure you heard him talking."

The bartender leaned on his forearms against the edge of the bar, his eyes still watching Hakkai. "Yeah, I heard him. He made perfect sense to me."

Sanzo gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? You're just as fucked in the head as he is, then."

The bartender smiled widely as he shifted his focus back to Sanzo. "Maybe. But there are worse things to be." He set Sanzo's empty bottle to the side, clearing the space in front of him. "I'm curious about one thing. What's his relationship to you?"

"We're not related."

"I didn't think you were blood relations. But you're friends, yes?"

Sanzo shifted uncomfortably on his stool. "I wouldn't call us that," he said with a growl, his eyes narrowing.

"What would you call yourselves, then?"

"Nothing."

"Hm. That's too bad," the bartender said. "But maybe that explains why you don't understand him." He chuckled. "How could you? You don't even understand yourself."

"Go to hell," Sanzo muttered sourly. "You don't know anything about me."

"Don't I?" the bartender drawled, and he chuckled lowly. "I know that after your Master's death, you locked yourself away. You blamed yourself for what happened to him. Just like you blame yourself for a lot of what's wrong with this world now. That's a lot of weight for one person to bear. It's a wonder it hasn't killed you yet. Or maybe it has."

"Who the fuck are you?" Sanzo shouted as he drew his revolver and aimed it at the bartender. His eyes went wide when he saw that there was no longer anyone there. He heard faint chuckling and he snapped his head to the side, to the seat that Hakkai had earlier vacated. He fired his gun, and from the soft squelching sound that followed, he knew he'd hit his mark.

"On second thought, maybe I was wrong about you. You're not just cold and blind, but I think you're a little bit crazy, too. And not because of this." The bartender grinned as he prodded at the hole in his chest with his fingertip before crossing his legs at the knee and snorting in amusement. 

"Shikigami," Sanzo breathed.

"Hardly." The bartender fished the round out of his chest and slid it into his apron pocket. "You're so deluded by your own bullshit that you don't even know what it is you want. Here." He reached behind him and grabbed a beer bottle from the bar and handed it to the blond.

Sanzo was somewhat discomfited by the fact that the bartender was still speaking to him. Though by this point he was fairly certain he was having some sort of alcohol-induced hallucination. He let out a slow breath and then drained the bottle he'd been given. "Fine then, smartass. Tell me what it is I want since you're such a fucking expert." He saw the bartender's gaze shift to the Great Room, and he followed it, a brow arching when he saw him looking at Hakkai again. "Not fucking likely," he said quickly.

The bartender shook his head. "You're hopeless. In all my years, I've never met anyone as pathetic as you." He held up a hand to silence the priest, cutting him off before he could launch into any sort of angry diatribe. "You're also selfish. Sure, you saved him, yet you claim he means nothing to you. Why is he bound to you? Is it so that no one else can have him? You don't deserve him. And that's why you can't understand him." He shrugged. "But then, who can ever understand the dog they keep at the end of a chain?"

Sanzo felt like a heavy weight was pressing against his chest. His eyes stung and his cheeks felt like they were on fire. There was some truth to what the bartender was saying, and it shamed him to hear it. It was a feeling he was unfamiliar with, and he didn't like it. "Shut up! Just shut up about that!" he growled vehemently. "You don't know--" He cut himself off, unable to bring himself to finish the sentence. "It's bullshit," he said quietly.

"A cold heart is a dead heart," the bartender said as he glanced sidelong at Sanzo. He stared at him for several moments, and then he smiled brightly. "Well, looks like my shift's over. And a deal's a deal - anything else I have to say, I'll keep to myself, yeah?" He fished around in his shirt pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, then hopped to his feet to retrieve the book of matches from his trousers. "See you around, maybe."

"Wait."

The bartender paused, the match halfway to his lips as he arched a brow. "I thought you wanted to get rid of me," he said as he bent his head forward and lit the end of the cigarette before shaking the match out. "You did before."

"Just tell me who you are."

The bartender smiled. "I'm known by a few different names, but I'll respond to 'Hey You'. I'm no one special; just a bartender. One who kind of looks out for lost causes." He exhaled a thin stream of white smoke. "But maybe you're not completely lost. Depends on what you figure out along the way." With that, he turned and headed for the back kitchen, giving Sanzo a wave over his shoulder. "Later."

Sanzo's eyes darted wildly around the room when the bartender appeared to simply vanish into thin air. "You can't leave it like that, you bastard!" he shouted angrily. "Tell me what the hell you're talking about!" He blinked in surprise when he felt himself being gently shaken, and then saw Hakkai in front of him. "Hakkai?"

"Thank goodness. I've been trying to wake you for a few minutes now." The healer wore a concerned expression on his face as he pressed the back of his hand to Sanzo's forehead. "Sanzo, how much have you had to drink tonight?" he asked.

"Too much. Or maybe not enough. I don't know."

Hakkai's lips moved silently as he counted the empty bottles on the bar. "Oh dear... Well, come on. Let's see if we can't find you an aspirin and then pour you into your bed for the night, ne?"

Sanzo groaned as he got to his feet, and he pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead. "God, I'm going to kill that asshole bartender when I find him."

Hakkai frowned. "Bartender?"

The blond shook his head. "Never mind. It's nothing."

"I'm sure it's not nothing." Hakkai's frown deepened as he studied the other. "Maybe we should take you to a proper doctor."

"Fuck off. If any doctor tries to touch me, I'll shoot him dead. I've got everything I need right here."

Hakkai couldn't help the small smile that graced his features. He appreciated the compliment even if it was simply part of Sanzo's drunken ranting. "If you say so. Now can you walk, or should I carry you?" he teased.

"Tch. Idiot." Sanzo went a few tottering steps on his own, then waited for Hakkai and leaned against him for hold him up. "I am a lost cause," he muttered.

"I don't know about that," Hakkai replied as he slipped his arm around Sanzo's waist to help support his weight. "You're one of the most tenacious people I know."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean, Sanzo?"

The blond was quiet for a long time as he considered his answer, letting his head fall back on his shoulders as he glanced up at the ceiling. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Huh. I still say it's a stupid tradition. Mistletoe is a parasitic evergreen with poisonous berries."

"Yes, you were very clear about your feelings on that subject earlier," Hakkai replied with a soft sigh. "But even so, it's not all bad. It does have some medicinal properties. It can be used to treat hypertension, or to strengthen a weak heart."

Suddenly Sanzo laughed, and when he saw the perplexed expression on Hakkai's face, he only laughed harder. "That son of a bitch! I get it now."

"Sanzo, what--mmph!" Hakkai was silenced by a pair of warm lips against his own, and when Sanzo pulled away from him, he simply stared at him in shock.

"It's not dead. Just weak," Sanzo said. "I get it." He gave Hakkai a small but genuine smile. "I should've got it long before now, but he was right. I was blinded by bullshit."

Hakkai skated his tongue along his lower lip as he looked into the priest's eyes. They were glassy, but still appeared sharp and very lucid. "You're extremely drunk, Sanzo, and I couldn't -- just, please don't do that again in your condition."

"Are you saying you'd be okay with it if I wasn't drunk?"

Hakkai arched a slender brow, finding their conversation suddenly very surreal. "Well," Hakkai began hesitantly, "I suppose it would depend on the circumstances."

"For your Christmas?"

Hakkai smiled thinly. "Sanzo, you don't have to feel obligated to--"

"I'm not humouring you," Sanzo interrupted. "But if you want a different reason, then how about because it'll be Tuesday? Or because--" He cut himself off, finding his fingernails suddenly very interesting. "Maybe I just want to," he muttered.

Hakkai knew there was the very likely possibility that come morning Sanzo would forget about their entire conversation, but he couldn't help smiling nonetheless. Perhaps he'd find a reason to celebrate the holiday again after all. He held a little tighter to Sanzo as he led him toward the stairs. "I think in that case, it might just be okay."


End file.
